The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-06-16

| ing and uncertain .n.nt 3 ~ AZ.
hol which they CO. 0tsin.
1 poneye majority of medical
MINUS To-Day . .re strongly. inclining to
the convictio a that the time win come,
ana M no cry distant day, when alco-
MOI IN any of its forms will no longer
DC reco Inixed as medicinal agent. l
relolc' to know that this fell agent, al
com u, more blighting and whitening
III its sweep Of destruction than the
lexdly simeon or upas tree, will be q
Ching of the past that physicians will
NO longer prescribe 1t, and the govern
ment no longer tax, and thus protect
aud foster the enormous evil involved
its traffic.
If alcohol is indispensable and must
be prescribed, let II be done under
such restrictions and under such SUPER
visi on as obtain in regard to the sale
Of other poisons, and as will lessen to
the greatest possible degree the La
bility to q perversion of the privilege,
even If it should be necessary 10 ap-
point and hold accountable its own
agents.
In the language ofthe distinguished
DR.. Richardson: "On the other side,
in common fairness to scientific prog
ress, the professors OF healing ought
so to prescribe alcohol. that nothing
shall be wanting in accuracy of pre-
scription; the exact quantity, the ex-
act quality, the exact purity of the al
cohol ought to be known aud due pro-
vision made to insure what Is right in
respect to quantity, quality and purity.
10 prescribe without knowing wheth-
err the specimen Of wine contains ten
or twenty per cent alcohol, or whether
all the alcohol in the spirits is erthyic
alcohol or a mixture of alcohols; to
prescribe either wine, spirits or ales
without asking whether other chemi-
cal bodies than alcohol arc or are not
present in them, is not prescribing at
all II is the duty of the physician to or
der in fact the absolute remedy, to de-
fine the dose, and 10 direct the admin
istration with the same care as If he
were prescribing opium, arsenic, chic
raj or other poisonous or active rene
dy."
About two hundred physicians
and surgeons. of New York
.ecently signed the following
medical declaration: "We are of the
opinion that the use of alcoholic liz.
uor as beverage is productive of al
large amount of pt ysical disease, that
entails diseased appetites upon off
spring, and that it is the cause of q
large per ceEtage of the crime and
pauperism of our cities and country.
We would welcome any judicious and
effective legislation-State and nation
al-which should seek to conffne the
traffic in alcohol to the Legitimate pur-
poses of medical and other sciences,
art and mechanism"
Over two thousand physicians of
Great Britain declared "that total
and universal abstinence from alcohol |
ic beverages of all sorts would greatly |
contribute the health, the prosperity |
and the happiness of the human race.n
DR.. b. w. Richardson, of London,
says: II hold that those who abstain |
from alcohol have the best digestion. |
and that more instances OF indy es,ioD,
of flatulency. of acidity and of de- |
preston of mind and body are pro-
duced by alcohol than by any other |
single cause. 1t is an agent as potent
for evil as it is helpless for good. 1t |
begins by destroying, 1t ends by de-
struction, and it implants organic
changes which progress independently |
Of its presence even in these who are
not born"
DR.. James Edmunds, of England,
says: ut is admitted by every one
that alcohol is the cause of more than
half of the insanity we have.
1t is fact that cannot be disputed |
that diseases of the liver, diseases of
the lungs, diseases of the tissues Of the |
body, are induced directly by the use
of alcohol"
DR.. Willard Parker, of New York,
says upon this point: "Alcohol has no
place in the healthy system, but is an
irritant poison, producing diseased |
condition of body and mind. " has
been demonstrated that the use of al
cohol, employed moderately, as many
young men use it, as think, with i'm.
punity, makes the average of life
thirty five years and half, while that
of non-users reached an average Of
sixty-four and one-sixth years, or
difference of about twenty-nine years |
10 each individual.
Sir Henry Thompson says: Il have
long had the conviction that. there is
no greater cause of evil, moral and
physical, than the use of alcoholic
beverages. i do not mean by this
that eytreme indulpeuce which nro- |